Villagers lose land to bank

VILLAGERS in Mudereri, Zvishavane, have lost part of their land to FBC Building Society after it was sold to the bank by the rural district council.

It is alleged that the bank has started developing a residential area without prior notice to the villagers.

The 34 villagers sought the court's intervention, but their application was thrown out by High Court judge Justice Siyabona Paul Musithu who ruled that they were trying to deceive the courts.

In their court application, they cited Local Government ministry, Runde Rural District Council (RRDC), Zvishavane Town Council, Chief Masunda, Zvishavane rural district development co-ordinator and the FBC Building Society as respondents.

The judge said there was an existing court order granting respondents authority to carry on, hence the court could not make another ruling on the same issue.

"There was, therefore, clearly no reason why a claim involving the same parties and same course of action had to be split. Such an approach leads one to reach the conclusion that some mischief was intended. The mischief behind the splitting of the claim is not difficult to decipher. It was meant to deceive the court. If those matters were placed before a different judge; one judge could be persuaded to declare annexation of the plaintiff's land by the defendants unlawful," the judge ruled, adding that: "The plaintiff's claim be and is hereby dismissed."

The villagers initially approached the courts in 2020 after their land was put under Zvishavane Town Council by the Local Government minister.

In response, the RRDC, Zvishavane Town Council and FBC Building Society filed a special plea, arguing that the matter should be dismissed as Justice Clement Phiri had already dismissed a similar application the villagers had filed earlier.